Chapter 2: Origins of Public Speaking

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify the historical events that led up to democracy and recognize persuasion and public speaking as art forms in Athens, Greece.
• Describe the nature of public speaking in Athens during the 5th century B.C. and the role it played in a democratic society.
• Apply Plato’s approach to dialectics and logic.
• Explain Aristotle’s descriptions of rhetoric and public speaking.
• Describe the Roman Republic’s adoption of rhetoric to public speaking.
• Elucidate Cicero’s influence on the Roman Republic and public speaking.
• Describe the relevance of Quintillion’s influence on the Roman Empire, rhetoric, and public speaking.
• Recognize the impact that St. Augustine, Christianity, and the Middle Ages had on rhetoric and public speaking.
• Clarify the roles that the Renaissance, Rationalism, and the Humanists had on the rebirth of rhetoric and public speaking.
• Explain the role that Classical rhetoric and the advent of psychology in the 18th and 19th centuries, known as the Modern Period, had on public speaking.
• Describe the influence of the Elocutionary Movement on public speaking.
• Describe the restoration of public speaking in the United States.